


Etymology

by GretchenSinister



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-10-23 19:09:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17689190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GretchenSinister/pseuds/GretchenSinister
Summary: Original Prompt: "Jack gets to go back in time for one day to see his sister. He’s still Jack Frost, but his sister can see him because she never stopped believing in him. I want lots of fluff. Heart wrenchingly precious sibling fluff.He can gain this chance through any means necessary. Maybe someone gives it to him as a gift, a present from Father Time or something, I don’t care. I just want Jack to have a day to run around with his sister and have snowball fights and wintery fun and be cute and sibling-like together and maybe it brightens his sister’s spirits and gives her some closure to know that he’s okay, even if he’s not with her, and I don’t know.Bonus: Not glossing over the trauma of the whole skating incident. So like a little h/c I guess? Except it’s mostly just the comfort? and then happy playtimes ensue after they’ve gotten over the super emotional parts.Just break my heart in the best ways with happy, closureing, sibling fluff please anon."Etymology as the study of the origin of words and expressions, that is.As an adult, Emma thinks back to her last day with her brother. Then, one of her children asks her a question.





	Etymology

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Tumblr on 1/1/2014.

“Why are you different?” It was the first question she asked, and now, when she thinks about that day, she knows that wasn’t really what she wanted to ask. “Where were you?” would have been one good question. “How can you fly?” would have been another. “Is it really you?” might have been the most appropriate. Emma hadn’t been allowed to see, but she knew they had found a body in the lake. There had been a funeral. There was no reason to assume that the white-haired boy with a face like her brother’s was actually her brother returned again.   
  
And yet, she had never doubted him. She smiles and shakes her head. So young, then. Too young to believe that her brother had been gone forever. Too young to keep her anger burning or to keep her sadness weighing down upon her when her brother was before her once more, smiling the uneven smile that had shone like a sun above all their games, crouching down in the snow so he could look her in the eyes.  
  
“My name matches what I can do now,” he said. “See? Jack Frost can make it snow now.” He waved one hand through the wind, and a flurry of snowflakes swirled around him. Emma giggled, and reached out to catch them on her mittens.  
  
“Is that why your hair is white, too? So it’s like snow?”  
  
“I think so, Em. And it’s why I’m not cold, even though I’m not bundled up like you.”  
  
A thought had occurred to her, then. “I don’t know what Mama’s going to say when she sees you like this.”  
  
Jack had stopped smiling then. He put his hand on her shoulder. “I know it’s not fair, but Mama’s not going to be able to see me. I know it might not seem to make sense, and you can be angry at me again if you see her sad and know it’s because to her I’m gone. But I can only see you today.”  
  
“You’re not back for good, then,” she said.  
  
Jack shook his head. “When I fell, I was given something important to do. I can’t stop doing it now.”  
  
“What’s more important than your family?”  
  
“I help to make people smile,” he said. “Maybe that doesn’t sound important. But I also bring the snow…and make sure that the ice is thick.”  
  
“That’s important,” Emma said quietly.   
  
“So,” said Jack, “forgive me? And let’s play today.”  
  
It had been a wonderful day—sledding, skating, snow angels, jokes, and stories—and the whole of it had always remained a clear, strong memory for her.  
  
(“I have to go, Emma. I love you. Remember me.”)  
  
“Mama! It’s snowing!” her older child calls, pointing out the window. “Why does it do that?”  
  
She smiles. She had been waiting for the day when her little one would ask this question. It’s time for her to not be the only one to remember Jack. As she begins to tell her child the story, though, she wishes there’s a way for him to come back just one more time. Otherwise, well, who knew what might happen? Maybe as the children grew older they’d think she didn’t mean every word she said.   
  
Still, that couldn’t matter now. Winter had come again, and her brother was behind it. She couldn’t talk to Jack Frost anymore, but she knew she could at least talk about him.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments from Tumblr:
> 
> #does his sister have a canon name? 
> 
> whentheoceanmetsky said: Emma is the go-to because it’s a sorta in-joke. Emma Frost is a Marvel universe character lmao. I’ve also seen Mary used a lot but my favorite (besides Emma) is….Jill. Because Jack and Jill and that shouldn’t make me laugh so much.
> 
> datenshi-no-hime said: As far as I’ve heard, it’s Pippa


End file.
